THE SIGNAL: 200 Posts Later

As of this article, The Signal has published a full 200 posts! With content ranging from reviews to news focusing on a wide variety of television programmes, we’ve enjoyed the ride so far. Check in under the jump for more thoughts…

It feels like we just had a retrospective! And indeed, we did, as The Signal turned one only a few months ago. So I’ll keep this one short and sweet. It’s been a pleasure bringing you The Signal, from our weekly bunch of blog posts, to our SpiritLive show, to our Twitter account.

There have been growing pains. One of our regular contributors is currently in England pursuing a semester abroad, and two others have largely withdrawn from the blog in recent weeks due to overwork. Overestimating either my time and energy, or the amount of things I’d have to say on a weekly basis about this show or that one has led to shows spending 2-3 weeks on weekly rotation before vanishing. And the weekly roundup, featuring small reviews of the ‘other’ shows we watch and news clips from around the internet have all but disappeared.

But we’ve also seen some great growth this summer, as my summer schedule has allowed me more time to devote to Signal business. Using Twitter has become much more seamless, and recent launches of Canadian shows has inspired me to re-commit to Canadian programming. Practically every US show has a blog following it on an episodic basis, while Canadian shows don’t exactly have that luxury.

So, in addition to paying attention to Canadian TV news and premieres, I’m officially adding Almost Heroes and Dan For Mayor to my weekly review roster. Heroes, after three episodes, has demonstrated itself to be a charming show worth the attention, while Dan For Mayor is at very least an interesting case of a show evolving before your eyes. What this means for current weekly shows Weeds and The Big C is undetermined; as all four are half-hour shows, I will hopefully be able to keep on top of all four as the summer goes on.

Of course, as our Marchlands and Case Sensitive reviews imply, we’re also interested in following some international scripted television. Reviews for international content will also continue on an intermittent basis, as we have access to those we want to pay special attention to. And, of course, all summer we have reviews of superlative British show Doctor Who from Stéphane Lachance.

Also, I feel comfortable announcing our One Season Wonders project, focusing some attention on shows that only aired for a single season. These shows make up 2/3 of any given season in Hollywood’s television system, and that fascinates me. On an ongoing basis, you’ll see season review posts marked by that feature name, with a focus on expanding our coverage of these shows.

We’re always looking for more contributors to The Signal, covering a variety of topics and series we don’t have time to. If you’re interested in writing for The Signal, anywhere from a one-time guest post to a spot on the staff, drop us a line at thesignaltv@gmail.com, and we’ll see what comes next. And if you want to support us… comment! Email us! Get involved, even if it’s just a brief ‘hello’ email to let us know you’re reading. Keep us on our toes.